Does anyone else remember when Colter Bean came into that game against the Sox in Fenway last year (or was it the year before)? It was so odd. He was such a goofy looking pitcher with such an odd wind-up, and his pitches just moved slowly and oddly. I remember the camera panning to a Sox baserunner (don’t remember the player) at second talking with Jeter and they were both laughing and it seemed to my paranoid mind that they were chuckling at Bean. It was like they had never seen anything like this guy in the majors and they weren’t sure he belonged. I felt bad for the guy, and maybe I was just imagining the whole thing. Maybe they were laughing at A-Rod. Anyone else remember the game?

Nick-YFFebruary 25, 2007, 11:49 am

I don’t ever remember seeing him pitch.

BradFebruary 25, 2007, 12:33 pm

My, what a diverse group of articles, and every one quite interesting.
Colter Bean’s story just makes one wish he’d get a decent shot somewhere. It’s the old prejudice, if you don’t throw hard, you probably won’t be effective against major league hitters.
Baseball in Israel. That would be a surreal thing to observe. Now if the Palestineans could come up with a team, you would have a rivalry that might top the Yanks-Sox. Maybe.
I like that GPA stat, and dividing it by four gets it back in that batting average similarity that we all grew up on and recognize instantly as being good or bad.
The Japanese language is a killer, not to mention the Japanese alphabet. Try figuring that out. I’d like to see Tito walk out to the mound and try to make some sense to DMat. He better lose the wad of chew first, or he’ll be swallowing it. I suppose Farrel will be the guy going out to try to communicate, as he’s trying to pick up a little Japanese. Francona just needs to learn how to say, “grab some bench”. I don’t know what the Yanks have in mind for on the field communication with Igawa.
My earliest memories of the Yankees involved Yogi around 1960 watching the Yanks on Saturdays back when CBS owned the team. One game in particular, when Yogi hit a grand slam off the screen in right against the Tigers, is my earliest memory as a Yankee fan.
As for Mo, I’m sure he’ll be back, barring some sort of serious injury that would threaten his career. Having said that, life without him is perhaps closer than we think. Hard to imagine.

WhateverFebruary 25, 2007, 5:02 pm

I’m a big fan of the GPA stat. Hadn’t heard of it ’til I read that story, but now I’m eager to incorporate it into my own spreadsheets as the seasoon gets going…